Something Done for Jesus

Something Done for Jesus

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 26, 1890,

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"She has worked a good work upon Me." Matthew 26:10.

STUDY carefully the story of the enthusiastic Christian woman who
poured the alabaster box of very precious ointment upon the head of our
ever-blessed Lord and Savior. Honored as that action is by the
universal Church of God, it did not escape criticism among the
religious people of her own day. The disciples censured her but Christ
defended her–and in the course of His vindication of her He said, "Why
trouble you the women? For she has worked a good work upon Me." There
is no reason for troubling gracious men and women–and specially no
cause for so doing when their work is good and is done for their Lord.
Yet are there plenty of critics around us this day and we could spare a
few of them from our own immediate neighborhood. They are only able to
worry us so far as we think of them and therefore we will let the wasps
alone and feed upon the honey which flows from the lips of our Lord
Jesus.

Observe that this woman had worked a good work–good in intent and good
in itself. Her Lord said so and His verdict ends all debate. Observe
especially that her good work was a good work upon the Lord Jesus. It
was of no immediate benefit to anybody else nor was it meant to be.
"This ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor." So
Judas and the other disciples said. The 500 pence which it would have
produced might have been spent on bread and so have fed many poor
people. But she expended it on Jesus and meant that it should all be
used in His honor and that only.

Poor or not poor, she thought only of Him. The ointment might have been
used for certain purposes at festivals, or otherwise, and so have been
more or less beneficial to a number of persons–but on this occasion
the benefit was to the Lord alone–and she meant it to be so. On this
account the practical philanthropist called it, "waste." Is anything
wasted which is all for Jesus? It might rather seem as if all would be
wasted which was not given to Him!

This box of precious ointment was all for Him. Other persons in the
room might smell the sweet perfume but that was not what the grateful
woman aimed at–she intended all the sweetness for Jesus–it was a good
work worked upon Him. The woman's thought was that she would honor the
Lord. Her only intention was to show her reverence for Him–and
provided He should be pleased with her deed, she would be perfectly
content–though no one else might be gratified. Her first and last
thoughts were for the Lord Jesus Himself.

We know from another Evangelist that she broke the alabaster box. Was
there need for that? Not in order that the ointment might be poured
forth. She might, we should suppose, have opened the box in a less
hasty manner. But the manner of a gift has frequently as much in it as
the matter of a gift. She broke the box to display her eagerness and to
show that the choicest thing she had was not good enough for Jesus. She
banished every notion of economy when she thought of her Lord. If she
had possessed 10,000 times as much, she would have given it all to Him
and have poured it out without a thought!

She did not count her offering a lavish expenditure–she would have
made it lavish if it had been in her power. She would have no saving of
pots and calculating of pennyworths when He was in the case–there
should be no trace of stinginess in her homage to her Lord. It was,
therefore, as necessary that she should break the box as that she
should pour out the ointment, for she wanted to show that she loved her
Savior immeasurably–and she wished to express to Him, as best she
could–her intense veneration of Him and her ardent affection for Him.
Had some of us been there, we might have called it eccentricity, or
fanaticism, or precipitancy, or waste. But she did not care what
onlookers might have to say–her only consideration was what Jesus
might think. To please Him was the height and range of her ambition.
Happy woman, to have reached this gracious absorption!

The good work which she performed was, far beyond her own thought, a
most appropriate one. Love is ever wise. Jesus was a King. He had
ridden through the streets of Jerusalem in triumph. The multitude had
strewn branches in His path.

They had saluted Him with hosannas. They had done much by way of
coronation, but they had not anointed Him. Why this omission? She will
anoint Him if no one else will. Her hands shall bring out the perfumed
nerd and pour the precious ointment upon the King of Israel! He was a
Priest, too, and especially a pardoning Priest to her. She recognized
His sacred priesthood–but the oil that fell on Aaron's head had never,
literally, fallen upon the head of Jesus and therefore she must anoint
Him plenteously till the oil not only ran to the skirts of His garment,
but filled all the house where they were sitting.

As King and as Priest she will take care that He is not without a
costly anointing. Moreover, it was customary to anoint pilgrims for
their refreshment at the end of a long journey when they came into the
house. The host on this occasion had neglected this act of courtesy. It
was most suitable, then, that when this great Lord of Pilgrims, whose
path had been weary and woeful and had, at length, nearly ended His
years of travel in this thorny wilderness–it was, I say, most suitable
that He should receive refreshment from the woman's hospitable hand.
Weary and worn was He and she would gladly anoint Him with the oil of
gladness. Though others had rejected Him, she anointed His head and
acknowledged the way-worn Traveler as the noblest Guest earth ever
entertained!

In all this her good deed was fit and seasonable. Do you disagree? Our
Lord said–and here I am free from all charge of following my own
fancy, and am sure to be correct–that there was another meaning more
remarkable by far. Whether this woman, with some prophetic spirit
resting upon her, saw further into our Lord's words than His disciples
did, we do not know–but Jesus declared that she did it for His
burial–as it were, embalming Him a little before the time for His
closely-approaching sojourn in the tomb. There was a great
appropriateness, then, in the act! And we think more appropriateness
than she, herself, knew of at the time she did it! But it is ever so
with loving hearts–reason does not guide them–by a kind of holy
instinct they hit upon the right thing.

Where reason laboriously finds out wisdom, love discovers it at once.
There are instincts of pure hearts that are more to be trusted than the
conclusions of argumentative minds. The safest logic is often that of
the heart when at once it devises liberal things for Jesus. Mind you
never set that logic aside. Here love devised the very deed that was
required– the fittest action that could have been imagined under the
sad circumstances so near at hand. To come back to the point, however,
which the woman was aiming at, she did all this, appropriate or not, to
Jesus. It was a good work–but the point of it was that it was a good
work worked on Him.

On this occasion I wish to speak of good works worked on Jesus and
therefore I shall not be speaking to you all. Many of you are incapable
of working a good work for Christ for you are not saved yet. How can an
evil tree bring forth good fruit? How can those who do not believe in
Jesus do anything for Him? It is not yet time for you to do anything
for Him. Your first business is that He should do everything for you.
You must go to Him as guilty sinners and find mercy in Him. I speak at
this time only to those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus and so have
been set apart by Him and sanctified forever by His one Sacrifice.

These, owing as they do, so much to their Lord, are those to whom I
would speak now, and say, Render unto Him good works that shall
terminate in Him and shall be made to express your love to Him. Good
works worked upon Jesus or solely in reference to Him are to be our
subject. Very briefly we shall notice the feelings prompting this kind
of service. Secondly, we shall mention modes of such service. Thirdly,
we shall give counsel or careful notes to be observed in such service.
And then we shall conclude with a word by way of defense of service of
this sort.

I. And first, THERE ARE FEELINGS WHICH PROMPT TRUE BELIEVERS TO DO
WORKS AS UNTO CHRIST. To bring forth these peculiar services, certain
feelings move within the Believer's bosom. The first and the most
powerful, probably, is gratitude. "We love Him because He first loved
us." He lived for us. He died for us. He rose for us. He pleads for us.
We owe all to Him.

The natural impulse of the renewed heart is to say, "What can I do for
Him? I love His people, but I love Him best. I love His ministers, but
He is beyond them all. I love His cause on the earth, but I love Him
better. While I owe much to His Church and to His ministers, I owe most
to Him. I want to tell Him how I love Him. I want to show Him, by some
direct act done for Him, that my heart adores Him for all that He has
done for me."

Beloved Brothers and Sisters, have you ever felt that way? I have often
felt, even towards a kind earthly friend, that while I have been
thankful for his gift and for his help rendered, I have longed, also,
to do something for the person helping me. When I have not known the
person who helped me in my good work, I have wanted to know him–not
from

curiosity, but that I might say how grateful I felt to the giver of
such kindness. How often I have had my hand grasped by loving persons
who have said, "I wanted to tell you that you led me to the Savior!"
They wanted to say it to me and often have they written to me and
cheered my heart because they felt a personal gratitude which needed a
personal expression.

A poor woman once forced me with tears to receive a small sum of money
for myself. I declined it till I saw that it would hurt her feelings,
for she had evidently longed for this opportunity for expressing her
thankfulness for the sermons she had read. If we feel thus towards an
earthly friend, how much more shall we feel it towards Him who has
saved us by His blood! Do you not want to behold Him, that you may tell
Him how you love Him? Do you not feel prompted to devise some new
method by which your love can manifest itself before the Beloved's
eyes, not in word only, but in deed and in truth?

Another feeling that will prompt us to the same course is that of deep
veneration. One has admired the personal Character of Jesus with a
sacred admiration, thinking of Him as the Son of Man in perfection and
then as God over all, blessed forever. We have first fallen at His feet
in humble worship and then, when we have risen, we have said to our
altogether-lovely Lord, "Oh, that I could serve such a One as You are!
Show me what You would have me do. Only do me the honor to allot me a
service which I may render unto You, for he is more than a king who is
honored to be the lowest menial in Your court. He who reigns over
nations is not so happy as the man who is subject to Your rule. It is a
delight to pay You homage." It is our Heaven to think that we may be
permitted to serve such a Christ and to work a good work upon Him.

Then, oftentimes, the feeling of sympathy will come in and blend itself
with veneration. Such sympathy is by no means to be condemned, but to
be commended. I mean by sympathy, this–have you not felt, when you
have heard of our Redeemer's sufferings and death, that He deserved a
great reward for them? Have you not wished that you could put a crown
upon His head for having so disinterestedly laid down His life for His
enemies? We have sometimes sung in this house with all our hearts those
words–

"Let Him be crowned with majesty

Who bowed His head to death;

And be His honor sounded high

By all things that have breath." We have said in our hearts, "How can
we fitly honor this paragon of perfection, this mirror of unbounded
love? Such a One as He is, having suffered so deeply, ought to be
rewarded plenteously with the honor of all who can appreciate a great
and noble deed."

That feeling of sympathy has been intensified when we have seen that,
instead of honor, our Lord Jesus Christ receives coldness from the sons
of men. No, worse than that, He is persecuted by their blasphemy and
hounded by their hatred! Have you not felt, when you have heard His
holy name blasphemed, as if you would blot that blasphemy out with your
blood if you could? When you have seen His sacred Day dishonored and
the truths of the Gospel denied, has not your soul burned within you?
Have you not said, "What shall I do for this despised
Savior–maltreated by those whom He has blessed–and crucified afresh
and put to an open shame, even by these who profess to be His
disciples–maligned by those who call themselves His ministers? O
Master, might I but do something to wipe out these blots–to remove
these slurs upon Your sacred name?"

That feeling of sympathy with Jesus, working with veneration and backed
with gratitude will lead us to attempt brave deeds of love for Him–for
Him personally, I mean. In the midst of all this, as a central flame
burning like the sun in the center of the lesser lights, our affection
for Jesus will make us long to serve Him. We love our dear ones upon
earth, but we love Jesus better than all of them put together. We love
our Brethren for Jesus' sake, but He is the chief among 10,000 and the
altogether lovely. We could not live without Him! To enjoy His company
is bliss to us–for Him to hide His face from us is our midnight of
sorrow. In comparison with that, all other sorrows are but the shades
of grief, but His departure would be the substance of distress.

And, Master, when we have looked at You and seen the nail prints and
beheld the scar on Your side. When we have beheld You standing before
Your Father's Throne still pleading for us and revealing Your undying
affection towards us, Your chosen–in Your intercession for us–we have
said, "We must serve Him. We must find out some way by which we may
give Him more honor." Oh, that I had a crown to cast at His feet! Oh,
that I could make new songs to be sung before

Him! Oh, that I could write fresh music for angelic harps! Oh, for the
power to live, to die, to labor, to suffer as unto Him and unto Him
alone!

You know better than I can tell you, many of you, what these
aspirations are. I am merely traversing a road with which you are
continually familiar. Let us keep company in thought and may I beg
that, on some sunny day, when my Lord gives me special work to do for
Him, you will be at my side with your gifts and efforts of love for His
dear name!

II. I shall pass on, in the next place, to notice THE MODES IN WHICH
THIS SUGGESTED SERVICE OF GOOD WORKS DONE UNTO HIM MAY SHOW ITSELF.
Holy Spirit, help me! We will begin, as it were, at the base of the

pyramid and go upward. And we may commence by saying that the entire
life of the Christian ought to be, in many respects, a good work done
unto Christ. Albeit that there must be in our life an eye to the good
of our fellow men, yet may we do it all unto the Lord.

The same Law which says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength," adds,
"and your neighbor as yourself," which proves that it does not
necessarily take away any part of our love from God when we act in love
to our fellow men. The duties of life, though they are to be done with
a view to our neighbor as God's will requires, still ought, in the
highest sense, to be performed mainly with an eye to the glory of
Christ and out of love to Him. The servant is bid to work, "as unto the
Lord and not unto men." The master, also, ought to discharge his duties
knowing that he has a Master in Heaven–and the thought of that Master
above should guide him in all he does.

Christian Brothers and Sisters, whatever your calling, discharge the
duties of it with a view to glorifying Him whose name, as Christians,
you bear! So let it be in every relation of life. Should not the child
seek to honor Christ by being like the holy Child Jesus? Should not the
parent devote his child to Christ, earnestly praying that he may grow
up in the fear of the Lord and may serve the Lord? Every lawful
relationship can be consecrated! In every condition of life we can
glorify Jesus! In all the moral obligations of life, Jesus should be
before us. We should be honest not only for our reputation's sake–for
that would be an unworthy motive–but for Christ's sake!

Would we have Christ's disciples called "thieves"? We should be sternly
upright, never by any means under suspicion of untruth or
double-dealing–because we serve the Lord Christ who is faithful and
true. Of us more is expected than of others since we serve a better
Master than all others. God has done more for us! We have a clearer
interest in the precious blood of Jesus and therefore the common
virtues of life ought to be exhibited in us to their fullest extent by
the help of the Holy Spirit–so shall we do everything as unto the Lord
Jesus.

The Christian must look to certain matters ordinarily overlooked in
common life, for Christ's sake. For instance, that of forgiveness of
injuries. Some will not forgive at all–this is fatal to all hope of
salvation. Others will forgive but not till after some considerable
time of wrath–good delayed is evil indulged. But you, Christian, you
are to do a good work upon Christ by forgiving for His sake. He has
forgiven you and therefore you will forgive others freely and
continually. Your revenge is the noble vengeance of heaping coals of
the fire of kindness upon your enemy's head! You might have struck him,
but for Christ's sake you bless him! No words of wrath shall defile
your lips for love commands silence within those gates of coral. You
see Christ, as it were, covering your foe with His own merit, and you
say, "For His sake I forgive you." May your whole life, then,
ordinarily be lived as unto Jesus and may special gems of forgiveness
glisten in

it!

Now go a step higher. That which is purely Christian work ought to be
done also upon Him and for Him. I mean by Christian work, evangelical
service which grows out of the plan of salvation. I refer to those
things peculiar to Christians–such as spreading the Gospel, teaching,
instructing, consoling, almsgiving and the like. All this should be
done for Jesus more really than it often is. And that other part of
Christian service, namely, endurance–the bearing of shame for Christ's
sake, the patient suffering of the will of God in Providence–all this
should be done for Christ most distinctly.

1 know there will be a second motive here, as in the former, and
properly so. When I preach, I have an earnest desire to do good to my
hearers–I ought to have such a desire. But yet, I desire to be moved
by a higher motive than love to your souls. I desire that, by the
stirring up of your minds, Christ may get glory–that you may be led to
do something for Him which will bring Him honor and please Him. May you
as saints be prospered that the Lord of saints may be honored! I look
through you to Jesus.

We ought to go to our Sunday school class with the view of doing good
to the children. Yet, above that object must rise the higher object,
namely, the honoring of Christ through those children. We seek the good
of the children for Christ's sake. Visit the sick, or preach in the
street, or distribute your tracts–dear Brothers and Sisters, in doing
these things you do well–but do not forget to perform these acts as
unto the Lord or else you will miss the flower and crown of your
service. I am sure it will be sweeter to do your work and easier to do
it and at the same time it will be better for your own souls and you
may more surely expect the Divine blessing if you do all for Jesus'
sake.

And the same with the other branch of Christian service, namely,
endurance–let us take up our cross because it is His Cross and we bear
it after Him. Oh, to lie still and suffer without a murmur! Oh, to be
silent under the shears because our own blessed Lord was like a sheep
before her shearers and opened not His mouth! Oh, to be able to bear
sarcasm, ridicule, misrepresentation and even actual loss of this
world's goods for the sake of Jesus–and to bear them meekly and even
joyfully–because it comes for His sake!

To bear suffering for Jesus would be a novelty to some Christians, but
to the true Believer it is an exquisite delicacy. To suffer distinctly
for Jesus is to work a work on His most blessed Self. I place this on a
higher range than the last set of duties which I mentioned, but still,
we have not yet come to the purest form of good works worked upon the
Person of our Lord Jesus. We will go a step higher.

There are works of the consecration of our substance. In these all
Christians ought to abound. It is ours to give often, give largely,
give even till we feel the pinch of giving! But we must take care that
we truly give as to the Lord. When you give your money to the Church of
God to maintain the preaching of the Gospel, or to assist missionary
enterprise, or whatever else the Church has in hand, you are doing a
good work to others. You are helping on the Gospel which has been a
blessing to you and will be a blessing to them. But, over and above
that, your desire should be to do it as unto the Lord. In giving what
we can of our substance it is sweet to lay it at His feet–not
regarding it so much as going into the treasury of the Church–as going
into the hands of the crucified Savior.

We give for His sake who gave Himself for us. We long that His kingdom
may come and that He may see of the travail of His soul. The same
should be true of what is bestowed upon the poor. When you noiselessly
and quietly give to the poor, who need your help, you are doing it for
Christ–if such, indeed, is your motive–and it ought always to be so.
We are getting still nearer to the point when we give to the Lord's
poor because the poor saints are in living union with Jesus–they are a
part of Christ's body–and in giving to them we are giving to Christ
Jesus Himself. When we feed and clothe and cherish poor aged Believers
because they belong to Christ, we are getting very near to that state
of mind in which this good woman was when she worked the good work upon
Christ.

I suppose the day will come in this age of novel reforms when we must
not dare to help the poor and needy. We can hardly do so now without
coming under the censure of the school of hard economists. I see
notices in the windows requesting us by no means to give alms. I should
like to put at the bottom of such placards the text of Scripture which
commands us to give to him that asks of us! Law or no law, I trust when
a Christian sees a case of necessity, he will not be held back by any
motives of political economy, or any of the hard and fast teachings of
the social scientists. In your almsgivings see to it that while you do
good unto all men, you do it specially unto the household of faith.

"Oh," cries one, "you may very soon be found helping a person that does
not deserve it." No doubt about it! But you have a great deal better to
do than neglect those who should have your aid. If we give as unto the
Lord because He bids us do it, and for His sake, if any put our charity
to an evil use the sin will lie with them, and not with us. If in any
cases applicants have deceived us, yet our act of charity is acceptable
to God. Never give for the sake of being thought generous–that spoils
it all–that is not giving, but buying a certain amount of respect at
so much a pound. Never contribute to Church work, nor to the help of
the poor merely to gratify the instinct within you which finds it hard
to say, "No"–but do it because, if Christ asked you, you would give
Him anything and you feel that when His poor have need you are bound to
help them for His sake.

We will go a step higher, dear Brethren. There are two great duties
which the Lord has appointed for His people, only–and these we should
observe because they are appointed by Him. I refer to the two commands
regarding Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. In keeping these
commandments there is a great reward to our own souls but we ought to
come as Believers to be baptized out of love to Jesus. We ought not to
ask, "What is the good of this?" We may not say,

"Shall I get anything by it?" But we are to simply say this, "He bade
me and I will do it for the love I bear His name." I feel shocked when
I hear people say, "But it is not essential to salvation."

You mean and beggarly spirit! Will you do nothing but what is essential
to your own salvation? A Pharisee or a harlot might talk so! Is this
your love to Christ–that you will not obey Him unless He shall pay you
for it? Unless He shall make your soul's salvation depend upon it? Oh,
if you love the Master, the least of His commandments will seem very
precious in your sight and you will feel that because you love Him you
obey Him! If obedience to an ordinance should bring you no good
whatever–if Jesus bade you, it is enough for you–whatever it may be.
Indeed, it is all the sweeter to do the Lord's bidding when no trace of
personal gain can be found mingling with the motive.

So, too, when we approach the table of communion we shall get a
blessing there if we come aright–but I think we too often fail to
remember that we should sit at the holy table with the sole view of
honoring the Lord who in that festival is remembered. He says that we
are to show His death until He comes. It is to Him that the feast is
dedicated. To keep up the memory of His death and to testify the fact
to others we eat of the bread and drink of the cup. We celebrate the
sacred supper for our Lord's sake–not because of Church rules, nor
because it is the custom of the brotherhood so to do–nor even because
it is a hallowed refreshment to our own hearts. We commune at the
sacred feast out of love to the

Well-Beloved.

But I will come to the point by saying, dear Brothers and Sisters, seek
to do something for Jesus which shall even be above all this a secret
sacrifice of pure love to Jesus. Do special and private work towards
your Lord. Between you and your Lord let there be secret love tokens.
You will say to me, "What shall I do?" I decline to answer. I am not to
be a judge for you–especially as to a private deed of love. The good
woman in our text did not say to Peter, "What shall I give?" nor to
John, "What shall I do?" Her heart was inventive. I will only say that
we might offer more private prayer for the Lord Jesus. "Prayer also
shall be made for Him continually." Intercede for your neighbors. Pray
for yourselves. But could you not set apart a little time each day in
which prayer should be all for Jesus?

Could you not at such seasons cry with secret pleadings, "Hallowed be
Your name! Your kingdom come! Your will be done on earth, as it is in
Heaven"? Would it not be a sweet thing to feel at such a time–"I shall
now go up to my chamber and give my Lord a few minutes of my heart's
warmest prayer that He may see of the travail of His soul"? That is one
thing which all saints can attend to. Another holy offering is
adoration–the adoring of Jesus. Do we not too often forget this
adoration in our assemblies, or thrust it into a corner? The best part
of all our public engagements is the worship–the direct worship.

And in this the first place should be given to the worship of the Lord
Jesus. We sing at times to edify one another with Psalms and hymns, but
we should also sing simply and only to glorify Jesus. We are to do this
in company, but should we not do it alone, also? Ought we not all, if
we can, to find a season in which we shall spend the time–not in
seeking the good of our fellow men, not in seeking our own good–but in
adoring Jesus, blessing Him, magnifying Him, praising Him, pouring
forth our heart's love towards Him and presenting our soul's reverence
and penitence?

I suggest this to you–I cannot teach you how to do it. God's Holy
Spirit must show your hearts the way. But let me entreat you to believe
that it will be no wasted thing if on Him the good work of prayer and
adoration shall begin and end on Him. It will be a right thing and well
done of you if the Lord Jesus has for Himself the choicest of your
thoughts, emotions, words and deeds. Oh, that all that we have could be
laid at His feet! It would be no waste, but the proper use of all our
good things.

III. But time fails me and therefore I must, thirdly, and with extreme
brevity, OFFER YOU A WORD OR TWO OF

ADVICE ABOUT DOING GOOD WORKS FOR JESUS. Take care that self never
creeps in. It is to be all for Jesus–let

not the foul fingers of self-seeking stain your work. Never do anything
for Jesus out of love for popularity. Be always glad if your right hand
does not know what your left hand does. Hide your works as much as
possible from the praise of the most judicious friend.

At the same time let me also add, never have any fear of censure from
those who know not your love to Jesus. This good woman did her work
publicly because it was the best way to honor her Lord. And if you can
honor Him by doing a good work in the marketplace before all men, do
not be afraid. To some the temptation may be to court the public eye–
to others the temptation may be to dread it. Serve your Lord as if no
eyes beheld you–and do not blush though all the eyes in the universe
should gaze upon you. Let not self, in either case, come in to defile
the service.

Never congratulate yourself after you have worked a work for Jesus. If
you say unto yourself, "Well done!" you have sacrificed unto yourself.
Always feel that if you had done all as it should be done it would
still be but your reasonable service. Remember that deeds of
self-sacrifice are most acceptable to Jesus. He loves His people's
gifts when they give and feel that they have given. Oftentimes we are
to measure what we do for Him not by what we have given, but by what we
have left after giving–and if we have much left we have not given as
much as that widow who gave two mites–no, for certain we have not–for
she gave "all her living."

Let us, above all, keep out of our heart the thought which is so common
in this general life–that nothing is worth doing unless something
practical comes out of it–meaning by "practical" some manifest result
upon the morals or temporals of others. It is almost universal to ask
the question, Cui bono?–"What is the good of it? What good will it do
to me? What good will it do to my neighbor? To what purpose is this
waste?" No, but if it will glorify Christ, do it! And accept that
motive as the highest and most conclusive of reasons. If a deed done
for Christ should bring you into disesteem and threaten to deprive you
of usefulness, do it none the less! I count my own character,
popularity and usefulness to be as the small dust of the balance
compared with fidelity to the Lord Jesus.

It is the devil's logic which says, "You see I cannot come out and avow
the Truth of God because I have a sphere of usefulness which I hold by
temporizing with what I fear may be false." O Sirs, what have we to do
with consequences? Let the heavens fall but let the good man be
obedient to his Master and loyal to His Truth. O man of God, be just
and fear not! The consequences are with God– not with you! If you have
done a good work unto Christ, though it should seem to your poor
bleared eyes as if great evil has come of it, yet you have done it,
Christ has accepted it and He will note it down and in your conscience
He will smile you His approval.

IV. I will not detain you longer, but just close by saying that THERE
IS A GOOD DEFENSE FOR ANY KIND OF

WORK WHICH YOU MAY DO UNTO JESUS AND UNTO JESUS ONLY. However large the
cost, nothing is wasted

which is expended upon the Lord, for Jesus deserves it. What if it did
no service to any other–did it please Him? He has a right to it! Is
nothing to be done for the Master of the feast? Are we to be so looking
after the sheep as never to do honor to the Shepherd? Are the servants
to be cared for and may we do nothing for the Well-Beloved Lord
Himself?

I have sometimes felt in my soul the wish that I had none to serve but
my Lord. When I have tried to do my best to serve God and a
cool-blooded critic has pulled my work to pieces, I have thought, "I
did not do it for you! I would not have done it for you! I did it for
my Lord! Your judgment is a small matter. You condemn my zeal for the
Truth of God. You condemn what He commends." Thus may you go about your
service, my Brothers and Sisters, and feel, "I do it for Christ, and I
believe that Christ accepts my service and I am well content." Jesus
deserves that there should be much done altogether for Him. Do you
doubt it?

There is brought into the house, on his birthday, a present for Father.
That present is of no use to Mother, or to the children. It cannot be
eaten. It cannot be worn, but Father would not give it away to
anybody–it is of no value to anybody but himself. Does anybody say,
"What a pity it was to select such a gift, even though Father is
pleased"? No, everybody says, "That is just the thing we like to give
to Father, since he must keep it for himself. We meant it to be for
him! We had no thought of anything else–and we are glad that he must
use our gift for his own pleasure."

So with regard to Jesus. Find out what will please Him and do it for
Him! Think of no one else in the matter. He deserves all you can do and
infinitely more. Besides, you may depend upon it that any action which
appears to you useless, if you do it prompted by love, it has a place
in Christ's plan and will be turned to high account. This anointing of
our Lord's head was said to be useless. "No," said Jesus, "it falls in
just in its proper place–she has done it for My

burial."

There have been men who have done an heroic deed for Christ and at the
time they did it they might have asked, "How will this serve my Lord's
purpose?" But somehow it was the very thing that was needed. When
Whitefield and Wesley turned out into the fields to preach, it was
thought to be a fanatical innovation and perhaps they, themselves,
would not have ventured upon it if there had not been an absolute
necessity. But by what seemed to that age a daring deed they set the
example to all England and open-air preaching has become an accepted
agency of large value! If you, for Christ's sake, become Quixotic,
never mind–your folly may be the wisdom of ages to come!

Once again, the woman's loving act was not wasted for it has helped us
all down to this very moment. There it has stood in the Bible–and all
who have read it and are right in heart–have been fired by it to
sacred consecration out of

love to Jesus. That woman has been a preacher to 19 centuries–the
influence of that alabaster box is not exhausted today and never will
be! Whenever you meet a friend in Europe, Asia, Africa, or America who
has done anything unto our Lord Jesus, you still smell the perfume of
the sacred spikenard! Her consecrated act is doing all of us good at
this hour–it is filling this house with fragrance!

If you are serving Christ in your own secret way in which you do not so
much seek to benefit others as to honor Him, it may be you will be an
instructive example to saints in ages to come. Oh, that I could stir
some hearts here to a personal consecration to Jesus, my Lord! Young
men, we need missionaries to go abroad–are none of you ready to go?
Young women, we need those who will look after the sick in the lowest
haunts of London–will none of you consecrate yourselves to Jesus, the
Savior?

I shook hands, after the sermon this morning, with a good missionary of
Christ from Western Africa. He had been there 16 years. I believe that
they reckon four years to be the average of a missionary's life in that
malaria region. He had buried 12 of his companions in the time. For 12
years he has scarcely seen the face of a white man. He was going to
Africa to live a little while longer, perhaps, but he expected to die
soon. And then he added, (I thought sweetly), as I shook his hand,
"Well, many of us may die–perhaps hundreds of us will do so–but
Christ will win at the last! Africa will know and will fear our Lord
Jesus! And what does it matter what becomes of us–our name, our
reputation, our health, our life–if Jesus wins at the last?"

What heroic words! What a missionary spirit! Live in that spirit, dear
Brothers and Sisters, and in that spirit come now to the communion
table! Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON– Matthew 26:1-16.